MADISON, Wisconsin (From news reports) - Wisconsin's flagship jobs agency has ended its pursuit of repayment of a state loan awarded to a De Pere businessman accused of bilking millions from investors and defrauding the state's job-creation agency of more than $1 million.
Wisconsin Economic Development Corp. Chief Executive Officer Mark Hogan reported to the agency board on Wednesday that officials decided to write off the balance of the $1.1 million loan owed by Ron Van Den Heuvel, former owner of clean energy company Green Box, because it's unlikely the agency will ever recoup the money.
Green Box was supposed to create more than 100 jobs in exchange for the loan.
Senate Minority Leader Jennifer Shilling (D-La Crosse) said Gov. Scott Walker's administration is "letting a convicted con artist off the hook for money that is legally owed to taxpayers."
"After six years of mismanagement, damning audits and unbelievable scandals, Gov. Walker and his administration have yet to prove they can be responsible with public dollars," Shilling said.
WEDC spokesman Mark Maley said the agency is continuing to seek the funds but is writing them off because there is little chance of recovering them. He noted the loan was made in 2011 and the agency has strengthened its rules and vetting process since then.
"Because there is little likelihood of collection on this debt, WEDC has decided to charge off the entire balance of $1.1 million," Maley said in an emailed statement.
The jobs agency failed to run adequate checks and gave two awards worth more than $1.2 million to Van Den Heuvel, who had not disclosed his problems to the state.
Despite those omissions in 2011 and 2012, Walker's administration kept working with Van Den Heuvel and Green Box into 2014.
The write-off was one of three WEDC made in the last quarter of the 2018 fiscal year totaling $4.3 million, according to Hogan.
Hogan's report comes days after Van Den Heuvel was jailed after authorities alleged he committed more fraud and intimidated witnesses while free on bond.
Van Den Heuvel was sentenced to three years in prison in January for conspiracy to commit bank fraud and in a separate case faces 14 counts of wire fraud and money laundering in connection with allegedly bilking investors out of $9 million.
Van Den Heuvel was released on bond, but was jailed again in recent days after federal authorities reported Van Den Heuvel fraudulently obtained a $20,000 loan in December from a New York lender and then spent $8,600 of that loan at the exclusive Oneida Golf and Country Club.
Court records show Van Den Heuvel and his family spent more than $18,000 in total at the club between September and May while he claimed to be unable to afford an attorney and needed a taxpayer-paid public defender.
Van Den Heuvel, who took the witness stand to testify, said he told the lender the $20,000 loan would be used for business expenses.
Receipts show most if not all of the money was used to buy equipment, golf lessons and food such as shrimp cocktails and tacos for Van Den Heuvel's wife and children.
